By Ankit Panda
In India, the French president will look to push on with defense, economic, and security cooperation.
On Sunday, French President François Hollande began a three-day state visit to India. Hollande’s visit will address a broad bilateral agenda, covering collaboration on defense, counter-terrorism, clean energy, and economic ties. Notably, Hollande will be the guest of honor at India’s Republic Day celebrations on January 26. India hosts an annual military parade in New Delhi for Republic Day and has in recent years featured foreign heads of state and government to emphasize growing strategic ties. Hollande began his visit on Sunday in Chandigarh, where he and Modi addressed the Indo-French Business Summit.
Hollande’s agenda in India is primarily borne of three developments in 2015. First, Hollande’s time in India is expected to give some momentum to India’s still-pending purchase of 36 French-made Dassault Rafale multi-role fighters. Last year, during Modi’s visit to France in April 2015, the government-to-government agreement for India to purchase 36 Rafale fighters in fly-away condition was a headline bilateral agreement. It marked an end to India’s ill-fated tender for a medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA). In the months since, Dassault and the Indian government have been caught up on the issue of the offset clause–New Delhi wants to hold foreign arms suppliers to invest a portion of their revenue from deals with India in the country’s defense industry.
Speaking to reporters in Chandigarh, Hollande appeared optimistic about the prospects of the negotiations with Dassault wrapping up soon. “We are going to take another step on the road which we hope will lead us to India’s acquisition of the 36 Rafale jets,” Hollande told reporters. “India needs them and France has shown that it has the world’s best aircraft.” Hollande and Modi will address the inter-governmental agreement finalizing the Rafale deal on Monday.
Read the full story at The Diplomat